How to pass Cisa Exam in 2021? Guaranteed Tips & Tricks

With the beginning of this New Year many professionals would want to achieve their dream CISA Certification this year. Are you one of those? With all the competition out there, how do you think you can gain the competitive edge over others?

Here are much needed tips that should familiarize you more in order to attain the CISA certification exam, with required plan, and embark upon your journey for your big career goal. We have included everything that you would want to know about the CISA Exam such as tips and tricks before you plunge in.

Why to attain CISA at all?

IS Auditing is a growing domain and it is expanding at a breakneck pace and the demand for IS Auditors and security professionals have increased manifold. With the latest developments in the industry the scope of professionals who have attained CISA training and certification has broadened, which has further encouraged a host of security professionals to attain CISA Exam .
Also, hiring managers are keenly interested in hiring CISA certified professionals due to increase in the security job functions and roles in the organization especially in financial institutes and banks. When it comes to compensation, CISA professionals are earning best salaries in the IT Security domain:

Official CISA Training Classes at Highly Discount rate

Relative High Failure Rate on the CISA Exam

Many professionals fail to pass the exam on their first attempt for the number of reasons such as:

• Technical knowledge is important however ability to audit and manage IT security processes is a must to earn CISA credentials, hence professionals from technical background sometimes struggle.
• Considering the other end, professionals from accounting background are good in auditing areas however, lack technical skills.
• Few professionals try their own approach to tackle the difficult questions, instead of the standard approach of ISACA.

Study CISA Review Manual

ISACA offers CISA Review Manual which is a one-stop guide for the CISA exam and designed to guide candidates for the CISA exam. It includes details on roles and responsibilities of an information systems auditor and is considered as best self-study guide for CISA aspirants . It is recommended that aspirants finish a minimum of two reading to best know all information that is required.

It is advised to take advantage of ISACA’s Free Resources always – they have variety of resources helpful for preparing for the exam. Here’s a list:

• The Information Security Audit and Assurance Guide
• The ISACA Candidate Information Guide.
• ISACA’s CISA self-assessment test.
• ISACA’s database of free-to-download whitepapers.

It is recommended to practice from the CISA Review Questions Database – It is an online practice question database which has questions, answers and explanations for a price of $185 (for members) and $225 (non-members) – 12 months access.

All is in the Mind – Start thinking like an Accountant

The exam emphasizes on the real- world applications hence thinking like the job role you are aspiring for and sharpening your decision making skills by tackling a hypothetical problem scenario.

Reading CISA Blogs and Articles

You are required to visit other CISA blogs and articles available on the web to attain better knowledge and insights on CISA exam pattern . It is helpful to get updates about the CISA exam.
Join forum and CISA Groups – It is lucrative to interact with other CISA aspirants and past experience holders to understand the experience and participate in the discussion. It helps in both theoretical and practical knowledge enhancement about the IT Auditing concepts and real-world application.

Practice Hands-on, Real-Life Scenarios

Gaining practical sessions through hands-on work experience or in an official CISA training program can be really helpful. You need to have a fair idea about a business process, understanding, audit scope, reporting and planning.

Planning Your Preparation

Self-study and managing the study hours by domain areas is useful. In case you are a working professional exams prep starting 3-4 month ahead is an ideal way. You should always think of maintaining your habit to study 1-2 hours every day.

Strategic Division of Prep Time

There should be a proper strategy to spend time in preparation such as – spending 35-40% of your time on the manual, 15-20% on getting coaching and another 35-40% on practicing the exam is an optimal utilization of preparation time.
Brushing-up your verbal reasoning skills is mandatory as several questions in this exam come in open-ended, case study based MCQs and generally presented with subjective choices. In case, you find your Verbal Reasoning skills poor or not up to the mark, some training before you take the exam is beneficial.

Download ISACA’s CISA Glossary Of Terms

to acquire familiarity with IT Security technical terms in English and acronyms applicable to the CISA Exams.

The CISA Exam Question Paper

CISA exam depends majorly on how you perform on the exam paper itself. Common problem is the lack of time to complete the paper. With the help of mock-tests and previous year’s papers you can devise a plan to complete in the limited expected time

Resource material and eLearning Material for CISA

Although, it can be said that syllabus calls for rote memorization, concepts of IT Security needs you to have fluency in the subject matter. CISA has its own knowledge bank CDs, it is presented in a storyboard format, easy-to-assimilate electronic material – CD-ROMs and ISACA e-store.

CISA Certification Training Courses

There are accredited learning partners those who impart CISA Certification training courses in multiple modes of delivery such as – Classroom, Live Online and On-demand (self-study mode).
It is highly recommended that you go through well-structured and comprehensive training courses and attain supreme quality, result-oriented, short term training programs on CISA modules. The training programs come with, classroom interactions, lectures, hands-on exercises, discussions which all can be helpful not only for the exam prep but also in your workplace.

Domains:

• Domain 1 - Information System Auditing Process (21%)
• Domain 2 - Governance and Management of IT (17%)
• Domain 3 – Information Systems Acquisition, Development and implementation (12%)
• Domain 4 - Information Systems Operation and Business Resilience (23%)
• Domain 5 – Protection of Information Assets (27%)

Exam Fees

• ISACA Member: US $575

• ISACA Nonmember: US $760

CISA Certification Training from Authorized Training Partner

Mercury Solutions is a leading IT training and Certification provider caters to the learning requirement of national and international audience through various delivery modes.